South Africa U20 National Team head coach Raymond Mdaka has expressed gratitude to Premier Soccer League club coaches for releasing players to his squad for the COSAFA U20 championship.
Amajita has faced challenges due to player unavailability in recent days, as clubs have just begun the Betway Premiership season and are dealing with limited squad depth.
Despite reports of seven players being withdrawn from the original squad to remain with their teams, Mdaka emphasized the importance of maintaining a positive relationship with the PSL coaches.
“I think this is one thing that we need to continue doing, is continue interacting with those coaches – even before there is a tournament, or during the preparations,” said Mdaka.
“I want to appreciation a few coaches that I personally spoke to, and words coming from the coaches to say, ‘We really don’t want you to fail because of players, we will try all we can,’ and that is really and highly appreciated.
“As much as I cannot mention, this one said this, but I’ve spoken to a number of coaches.”
South Africa’s U20 National Team, Amajita, has not qualified for the U20 AFCON since 2019. That year, coach Thabo Senong led a squad featuring Oswin Appollis, Lyle Foster, and Thabiso Monyane to the U20 World Cup in Poland.
“At the same time, with the developments we’re having now in terms of the players playing mostly in the PSL, I think it makes it important and it also gives us light to say we need to win and qualify,” he added.
“Winning also makes you go to AFCON, and from AFCON – I think all the players, wherever they are, want to play in the [U20] World Cup, so it will be nice for everybody as well as the country to be there.”